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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 15 January 2020

South Africa to strip refugees' status for any political act

By CARA ANNA ment, which has been ac-
Associated Press cused of hunting down op-
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — position figures outside its
South Africa can now strip borders, will now approach
refugees of their asylum South African officials and
status if they engage in any say, "Those people are do-
political activity related ing politics."
to their home countries, South Africa "is inviting the
according to a new law interference of govern-
that critics call illegal and ments," Hertis said.
deeply ironic after the rul- The new law will have a
ing party fought the former "drastic effect" both on
apartheid government for newcomers and those al-
years as a liberation move- ready in South Africa, said
ment in exile. the spokesman of the Afri-
Representatives of refu- can Diaspora Forum, which
gees and asylum seekers represents refugees and
say they will go to court others from around the
to challenge the new law continent.
which they say limits free- "We might even see extra-
doms of speech and ex- ditions," Amir Sheikh told
pression guaranteed under the AP, comparing the
South Africa's constitution, actions to U.S. President
a globally praised docu- In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 file photo police clash with protesters outside the U.N. refugee Donald Trump's restrictive
ment created after the agency's offices in Cape Town, South Africa. executive orders regarding
racist system of apartheid Associated Press refugees.
ended and the African Na- Many asylum-seekers see
tional Congress came to went there and said, 'I am Tuesday told the South Af- gee, Gabriel Hertis, paged South Africa as the most
power. a freedom fighter,'" said rican Broadcasting Corpo- through the South African obvious choice of refuge
The new law quietly took Motsoaledi, whose bio says ration "it might be that the constitution's Bill of Rights, on the African continent,
effect Jan. 1, startling a he was involved with the wording might have been which the constitutional said Alicia Raymond, an
community of refugees ANC's armed wing during wrong" and if so, "we will court says "has had the attorney and lecturer with
from around the continent apartheid. correct it." greatest impact on life in the Wits Law Clinic at the
who have long relied on The minister also described But Motsoaledi defended this country." University of the Witwa-
the freedom in South Africa the leaders of some African the new requirement that "This new law is against all tersrand.
to speak out against what nations that people have any political activity by I'm looking at," he said, list- "They've heard of Nelson
they call repressive govern- fled as being "democrati- refugees first obtain his per- ing guarantees of equal- Mandela and they think
ments back home in plac- cally elected," which hu- mission, comparing it to ity, dignity, freedom of as- they'll be protected," she
es such as Rwanda, Zimba- man rights groups would getting authorities' permis- sociation and more. "This is said, referring to the No-
bwe, Burundi and Congo. reject. Rwanda's President sion for a public protest. an attempt to change the bel Peace Prize winner
Asked whether the ban on Paul Kagame won the last "We need to know if it's constitution through back- and South Africa's first
political activities — includ- election with nearly 100% of wrong and it's going to door channels." black president. She also
ing voting — contradicted the vote, Zimbabwe's army cause war in the (home) For years, some African recalled people marching
the ruling ANC's own history opened fire on people pro- country," he told the state governments have com- a few years ago in protest
in exile in African nations, testing after its most recent broadcaster. "We need to plained to South Africa against South Africa's peri-
Home Affairs Minister Aaron election and the U.N. hu- warn them and say, 'No, about the activities of odic bouts of xenophobic
Motsoaledi asserted to lo- man rights office has called no, no, this will cause war people who fled here and violence.
cal outlet News24 last week Burundi "one of the most with our neighbors, it's not found a relatively safe "That act could exclude
that the circumstances are prolific slaughterhouses of good for us.'" place to be outspoken, people from refugee status"
hardly the same. humans in recent times" That sentiment worries and until now South Africa now, she said. "It does not
"The ANC people who lived over its election turmoil. some refugees. had withstood the pressure, make sense." She doesn't
in countries did not go As questions over the new During an interview with Hertis asserted. think the new law would
there to say, 'I am a refu- law continue, however, the The Associated Press, one He worried that inform- withstand a constitutional
gee, just protect me.' They Home Affairs minister on Rwandan activist and refu- ers with Rwanda's govern- challenge.q